B-29 bomber lands at Camarillo Airport [Video]

The worlds last flying B-29 Superfortress bomber prepares to land at Camarillo Airport on Monday as part of the Commemorative Air Force’s AirPower History Tour.

Ventura County Star

Joe Catrambone, of Moorpark, flew 28 missions as a gunner on a B-29 bomber in the Korean War. Back then, the U.S. fleet had thousands of B-29 Superfortress bombers.

Today, there are only a few, and only one is still airworthy. On Monday, Catrambone watched it land at Camarillo Airport for the start of a three-day exhibition at the airport's Commemorative Air Force Museum.

"Fifi," the same type of bomber as the Enola Gay, arrived with an escort of five World War II-era fighter planes. Nearly 300 people watched it land. Many, like Catrambone, belonged to the CAF wing based in Camarillo.

Fifi was scheduled to arrive at 11 a.m. for a gathering of media and CAF members, with the doors opening to the public at 2 p.m.

But morning fog covered Ventura County, and the crew couldn't leave its previous stop in Palm Springs until the sky was clear enough for a landing. The B-29 landed at 3 p.m.

Catrambone had seen the plane, nicknamed Fifi, before. He rode along on a flight at an air show in Texas about 10 years ago.

"Once I got inside, it was like déjà vu," Catrambone, 82, said Monday. "The smell was the same. ... Everything began to come back to me. By the time I walked from front to back I could've done my job again."

Others who came Monday were vintage airplane enthusiasts, like Robert Byl, of Ventura.

"It's kind of a treat to see it land," Byl said. "It's probably the only time I'll get to hear something like that."

It was a happy accident that Byl and the rest of the museum guests got to see the landing.

Boeing began building B-29s during World War II. They were the largest American bombers, and among the world's largest aircraft. Two of them — the Enola Gay and the Bockscar — dropped atomic bombs on Japan at the end of the war.

"That is the main historical significance of the B-29, the Enola Gay," said Ron Fleishman, the historian for the CAF's Camarillo-based Southern California Wing. "It pretty much ended the war."

Fifi never saw combat. It was delivered to the Air Force soon after the war ended and stayed in the U.S. during the Korean War.

The CAF, a nonprofit that collects and exhibits vintage combat aircraft, bought it from the Air Force in the 1970s and restored it. It was grounded for a few years, starting in 2006, and took flight again in 2010 with four new engines.

Now, the CAF flies it around the country for exhibitions. Its current tour is taking it through the southwestern United States, with Burbank scheduled as the next stop after Camarillo.

The plane will be open for tours at the Camarillo airport from 9 a.m. to 6:30 p.m. Tuesday and Wednesday. Admission is $15 per person or $25 for a family with up to three children. Children younger than 5 get in free.